


Wildwood Midnight

by dreamofroses



Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer, Wildwood Dancing - Juliet Marillier
Genre: Doppelganger, Dreams, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:08:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28087503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamofroses/pseuds/dreamofroses
Summary: Bella could hardly believe she’d forgotten about her cousin, Cat, when Cat suddenly appears on her doorstep in Forks for an impromptu visit. Though Cat is not what she seems, she may have answers for Bella about questions that have been gnawing at her and a question Bella never thought she’d have to answer: what if she doesn’t have to become a vampire?Set between Twilight and New Moon. Any necessary warnings will be at the beginning of each chapter.
Relationships: Edward Cullen/Bella Swan, Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	Wildwood Midnight

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story that I thought up a long time ago before Breaking Dawn came out and maybe even before Eclipse. Back when we didn't know about Bella's vampire gift or why she was impervious to mind reading. I was way into Twilight at the time and also into Wildwood Dancing. I was fascinated by the idea that fairies could exist in the Twilight universe, including the vampire-like Night People. I wasn't skilled enough as a writer to make it come out the way I wanted back then, but I was reminded of this story when I read Midnight Sun earlier this year so I decided to give it another shot.
> 
> CHAPTER ONE has some mild non-consensual stuff with the enthralled humans, given that they are, well, enthralled and cannot consent.

Catalina fixed the last few details of her appearance before the mirror—an out of place curl, uneven neckline. The mirror was an antique, faded and splotched with dark grey around the edges. The dim lighting of the room did nothing to help the situation, but Catalina appeared unperturbed. The lines of her blood-red lipstick and coal-black eyeliner were flawless. She pursed her lips and tossed her head, turning her heart-shaped face this way and that to catch the shadows at different angles.

“My dear Catalina, one might take you for vain,” purred a voice from the doorway.

“Sister,” Catalina acknowledged with a smile that was polite but cold. 

The two women were twins in many ways: their raven hair and onyx eyes, their waxy too white skin, their deep red lips, and their floor-length black gowns. And yet they were opposites in others. Catalina coaxed curls where her sister’s hair was sleek, was short where her sister was tall, wore a dress with a high neckline and plunging back where her sister’s dress was open down the front to her navel. 

“I am glad to see you well,” the sister said.

“Not as glad as you would have been had I died, Anastasia,” Catalina replied with that same cold, polite smile. She strode to the doorway and pressed her sister’s hand as she passed through it.

Anastasia scowled at the back of Catalina’s head until Catalina looked back over her shoulder. Her features smoothed immediately into a mask of pleasantness. “You misunderstand me, sister,” she said.

“Of course,” Catalina replied, all honey. “Tadeusz holds court tonight. I expect I will see you there.”

“Certainly,” Anastasia said.

“I am glad. I have happy news. I may yet be free of my curse. And soon.” Catalina looked forward again and continued down the corridor, the train of her gown fanning across the stones of the floor and rippling like so many bats in flight. 

*

  
“Brother,” Catalina said as she stepped out into the field full of revelers. She did not need to raise her voice to call to the man who oversaw the frenzied festivities from upon a dais and surrounded by the fawning attentions of entranced mortals. He was as pale and dark of hair and eye as his sisters, dressed like them all in black. 

He met her eye and smiled with indolent prurience. He watched her watch the mortals touching him everywhere through his clothes. She knew how he liked it when she watched, so she indulged him. She followed the hands of so many humans with her eyes, letting her gaze rest longest on his most sensitive parts. When he had his fill, he beckoned her over.

“They are beautiful this month, are they not?” her brother asked as she set foot on the dais. “Would that I could keep them.” He sighed.

Catalina cast an appraising eye over the enthralled mortals. They were all young, fit, and fair of face. Then she motioned them away so that she could sit on her brother’s lap herself. She took his face in her hands and kissed him deeply for they were both siblings and not, tied by bonds of blood that had nothing to do with lineage. He kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her waist to keep her close.

“Anastasia has had you too much to herself of late, Tadeusz,” Catalina said, leaning into her brother’s chest. “She grows jealous again.”

“You were ill,” Tadeusz replied, nuzzling against her jaw as the mortals returned to the task they had been bound to complete.

“Still, I would not have you spoil her so,” Catalina said. 

Tadeusz angled her chin down with his thumb so she could see his eyes flash with irritation as he replied, “I will do as I please.”

“Of course, my lord,” Catalina replied with a smile that was almost a laugh. She kissed him again and batted away the hand of a human to play with his nipple through the thin fabric of his shirt herself.

When Anastasia came sometime later, Catalina ceded her spot to her sister. She snagged one of the prettier male mortals and imposed her will on him over that of her distracted brother. She led him to her seat at Tadeusz’s right hand and had him sit curled against her legs, head in her lap. She ran her fingers through his loose curls absent-mindedly as she watched the revelry below.

Creatures of all shapes and sizes cavorted in the glade. The Fair Folk, Catalina had heard them called, but at the Dark of the Moon, the folk in the glade were anything but fair. They made their sport of prisoners, human and animal alike, chasing them and torturing them. The prey ran, wild-eyed, screaming and weeping and begging for release. The Folk laughed and increased their efforts at such encouragement. Some of the prey would be set free at the end of the night, others would not. It depended on the whim of the one who had captured them. 

*

  
At the deepest point in the night, the revelry quieted. The entranced mortals were sent away from the dais. Anastasia now sat in her own place to Tadeusz’s left. The Folk gathered before their thrones and one by one those with complaints against others of the Folk or desiring of boons came up to make their cases before their leaders. Tadeusz decided all cases as he had done since the beginning of anyone’s memory, except maybe that of the Forest Witch, but she rarely attended these festivities. He was capricious and often cruel in his decisions, but that was expected, even demanded, by those who asked his favor.

“Brother,” Anastasia said mid-way into the proceedings, “I believe our sister has something to bring to your attention.”

“Is that so?” Tadeusz asked, turning to Catalina.

“It is,” Catalina replied, “though I had intended to speak to you of it at the end of the night.”

Tadeusz regarded her for several seconds, expression inscrutable. “Speak, Sister,” he said.

“You are, of course, aware of my recent illness,” Catalina began slowly. “I believe it connected to my Double.”

“Isabella was unwell?” Tadeusz asked.

Catalina nodded firmly. “Almost unto the point of death,” she said. “I am too far to know her mind, but I fear she may be in danger still.”

“You wish to go to her,” Tadeusz said.

“I do. There is little time until her eighteenth birthday. I wish to protect her until then. If all goes to plan, I shall return to you after, free of my curse. Do you grant me leave?”

“Grant you? I command it,” Tadeusz said. “Go and return to us free.”

“Thank you, Brother,” Catalina said. “I shall inform my Double of my impending arrival as soon as she sleeps.”

***

  
Bella paused as she was brushing her teeth to frown into the mirror. Something was wrong, but she didn’t know what. Well, not wrong, exactly, but different. Something was different, but she couldn’t put her finger on what or how, or why. She looked the same, her toothpaste tasted the same, the air smelled the same, the soft staccato of rain under the muted noise of Charlie’s TV in the other room sounded the same, but she felt different.

If she had to describe it, put it into words for someone, she would have to say it was most similar to how people in ghost stories say they feel like they’re being watched. You know, the part right before they get attacked by the ghost. But it wasn’t quite like that. It was kind of like that first realization of Charlie being home after spending all day at home alone on a Saturday.

That reminded her that was how she was going to be spending this Saturday. She started brushing again, strange feeling lost under her thoughts. Edward was going hunting with his family this weekend. Had already left, in fact. The rest of the week was going to be sunny and this was the first time the whole Cullen family was going hunting together since the Incident, the crescent-shaped scar on her hand. They needed this—bonding away from the house, away from people. Edward hadn’t been sure, but Alice had seen a perfectly safe weekend for everyone involved and Bella had managed to decide on enough activities to do around the house that the vision had actually turned up a mildly pleasant weekend for her.

She finished brushing her teeth, called out a “good night” to Charlie, and gingerly climbed the stairs to her room. This was her first full week without her cast and she still felt a little off-balance walking without it—which, in her case, meant a grave risk of serious and debilitating accidents. She was trying to avoid those for Charlie’s sake because she didn’t think he would be able to handle her scraping death a third time in not even twice as many months. 

But it did bring up an interesting point. If she were to, say, fall down the stairs and break her neck, would changing into a vampire fix any resulting paralysis? She was inclined to say yes, but she wasn’t sure. Carlisle might know something or at least have a theory, and Bella had considered asking him about it. If only she could think of a way to do it that wouldn’t make Edward completely freak out. It would be hard to convince him that she was only asking out of curiosity after their discussion at prom. Of course, if the answer turned out to be yes, a definitive yes… 

It was really just a thought though. She wouldn’t actually go through with it, couldn’t actually go through with it. Even if she knew that becoming a vampire would for certain fix any injury she sustained, she didn’t think she could do that to herself. She could end up dead. She could just end up with a bunch of broken bones and a lecture about being reckless. It was an interesting thought, but that was all.

Bella’s room felt strange and empty as she crawled into bed. Sure, it had only been since March that Bella had (knowingly) had Edward spend the night, and sure, he hadn’t spent every night in her room since then. He had to hunt, after all. Still. That feeling that there was something other watching her returned the moment she turned out the light and the rain seemed louder somehow, ominous. It took her a long time to fall asleep.

*

  
Bella was in the forest. It wasn’t the meadow where she went with Edward, but a deep, dark forest with trees climbing so high they blotted out the sky. The whole place smelled green and the air was heavy. It wasn’t anywhere she would go on her own, and she realized she must be dreaming.

“Smart girl,” said her own voice behind her. Well, almost her own voice. It was like the uncomfortable version of her voice that she heard when recordings of her were played back. 

Bella whirled around and came face to face with herself. Herself, but as a vampire. She could tell immediately by the perfect white skin and the sharp black eyes. It was odd; she usually dreamed of her vampire-self with well-fed honey gold eyes. The black eyes were…a little uncomfortable, actually. Then, her vampire-self smiled and it put her at ease because it was a friendly smile, not a predatory one.

“Hello, Bella,” vampire-Bella said.

“Hello,” Bella said back.

“I’ve been trying to reach you for so long,” vampire-Bella said. “You’re farther away than I remember.”

“I don’t want to be,” Bella said. “I’m trying to become you, but it’s harder than I thought to…” She trailed off when she realized her vampire-self looked perplexed. “I won’t give up.”

“Of course you won’t,” vampire-Bella crooned, though the wrinkle between her eyebrows didn’t relax. “You’re not alone. I will be with you soon.”

*

  
Bella woke from her dream just enough to register that she’d had an odd one. If Edward had been there, she could have told him about it, maybe teased it out into something that meant something. Of course, he probably would have gotten that hard look on his face if she told him that she’d been dreaming about her vampire-self. But it might have been worth it just to remind him of where her dreams lay. 

Instead, she was alone in the silence. The rain had lightened to something too much like mist to make a sound on the roof and the eerie feeling was gone. Her room was just her room, cast in the deep shadows of late night. She rolled over, feeling too hot all tangled up in her blankets. Maybe she would tease Edward about that, play dramatic and say she needed to put ice packs in her bed when he was gone just to get a good night’s sleep. Or was that too close to the vampire question for him to be amused? She chose to think not, grinning as she imagined the faces he might pull at her lame joke.

She fell asleep smiling and, this time, her dreams took her to far pleasanter places.


End file.
